WICKLOW - DUBLIN DAILY , AM I MAD ?

BUACHAILL

I am living in Wicklow and I work in Dublin. I am looking at jumping on the saddle and cycling up and back everyday. roughly 70kms round trip. I am in physically good condition but havent cycled in a few years. I am well capabable of the cycling but wonder is this too much or is it a reasonable quest as it is a straght run ???

Also what kind of bike is best suited? should i stick to a road racer or would a Hybrid be best?

your advice is greatly appreciated !!

Caroline_ie

I was doing something similar earlier this year - (20 k shorter than your trip tho ... ) 52k round trip from Stepaside to Blancharstown ( in the winter ) on my road bike. It's very do-able but, very exhausting... and I was usually asleep by 10PM in the evening. The great thing is that you are fully awake when you start work!!!

Maybe do it progressively ... every second day at the beginning ...

BUACHAILL

yeah i am gonna attack it on the weekend and see how long it takes me etc, i wil know from that how to progress it to a daily basis.
its a relatively straight cycle with not too many hills so i am dying to get stuck into it.
how long do you think it should take ?

DirkVoodoo

I wouldn't fancy that in winter with either heavy wind or rain, or a combination of both

BUACHAILL

yeah i hear ya
its more of a summer gig, although the rain wouldnt put me off.

DirkVoodoo

Also, I would probably go for a nice hybrid over a road bike. You will benefit from the mudguards and pannier plus it will probably be less strenuous on you in the long run.

Hungrycol

Start gradually at first as Caroline_ie suggests, wear the right clothing, have work clothes, good bike lock and a shower in work, eat properly and I suggest doing it on a road bike (more hand positions) and you should be fine. Allow two hours each way initially. If you can survive a winter of commuting then the summers are much more enjoyable.

Good luck.

Caroline_ie

I remember cycling back home at 5.30 back to stepaside, in the dark, it was snowing + raining... very cold, i was completely wet and a car almost reversed into me ... even though I was the cycling version of a xmas tree ... the only thing I wanted was a nice cup of tea ...

BUACHAILL

thanks for your advice folks

I was leaning towards a road bike for that exact reason, i will be cycling to my parents place first for shower etc so not an issue in that regard. 2 hours sounds very long. i am no athlete but i was thinking 1hr 20 max each way? am i away with the fairy's?

penexpers

Could be doable in 1 hour 20 but you'd be pushing it all the way.

EDIT : Oh yeah and go for a road bike, make sure there's enough tire clearence for mud guards and mountings for a rack on the back.

BUACHAILL

sorry i should have been clearer
its wicklow town to Loughlinstown, not dublin city centre
thanks again

Chris Peak

1hr 20 max, sounds about right.

I go out to South Bray (on a road bike) in about an hour, depending on wind direction.

A friend of mine is a cycle courier in Dublin, but lives in Bray, and does it in about 50 minutes.

As far as I know, you can attach panniers to just about any road bike, if need be.



#side-note#
You'll see some incredible things in the southbound bike lanes, like signposts plonked right in the middle of them!

[FONT=&quot]But that’s another story… [/FONT]

Gavin

Try to make sure you have an alternative way of getting home. Some nights you just do not want to cycle and it's handy to be able to get the bus/lift whatever. It will particularly be the case with that distance.

Great way to get good exercise though. Good luck.

penexpers

Chris Peak wrote: »

As far as I know, you can attach panniers to just about any road bike, if need be.

That's not strictly true.

davidsatelle100

Verb wrote: »

Try to make sure you have an alternative way of getting home. Some nights you just do not want to cycle and it's handy to be able to get the bus/lift whatever. It will particularly be the case with that distance.

Great way to get good exercise though. Good luck.

I agree with that i only do about 10km each way and still have nights where i just dont want to get on the bike

BUACHAILL

yeah i am in a lucky position were i have a lift back home in the evenings as an option. maybe thats not the option to have, laziness might set in then were as if i didnt have the lift i would have no choice ha ha

Collumbo

That's a long commute. There is a chap who wins Senior A races who does that trip two or three times a week as training... any time I cycled against him, he was taking it quite handy and not riding really fast. So, if it's good enough for him, it'd get you into shape mighty quickly.
I wouldn't do it every day. It's a lot. Try twice a week to begin with, and leave a day or two recovery between each one. The cycle home is definitely going to tougher. And take it handy in the beginning... light gears, don't screw yourself cycling home especially.
Also, this is your call, but it's probably a less frustrating cycle to come in by goatstown and clonskeagh rather than the stillorgan dual carriageway. That can be a real headwrecker of a road when it's busy... it's actually easier to cycle up through clonskeagh as there are less major junctions. I used to go the opposite direction (Blanch. to Leopardstown) and much preferred that route anyway...
Also, whatever bike you get, get a bloody carrier and use panier bags. You will have a sore crotch in no time if you need to carry a lot on your back. I'd personally get a road bike on which you can put a carrier and possibly mudguards for the sh1tty days.
Good luck

Chris Peak

penexpers wrote: »

That's not strictly true.

Absolutely. That’s why I didn’t say you could fit them to every road bike.

I wouldn’t put them on a carbon frame, due to the extra wear. (But I could be wrong)

[FONT=&quot]Might be best asking in the shop where you bought the bike. Or finding an independent expert, like on here, for example. (Not a piss-take) [/FONT]

BUACHAILL

ok here is where i become a bit ANAL in my plans.
i wont need a carrier bag as my stuff for work will be at my parents place.a 10 minute drive from work. i get a company car so i will also leave that there. i can drive to my folks after work. get the bike and on my way. in morning cycle up and get showered and ready for work and drive in. mud flaps are an option but really not essential

thanks for all your input, sounds easy in theory
wait till i calf half way down the road ha ha

blorg

It's doable but it would be a lot each way five times a week. Not impossible mind.

For those distances I would not use a hybrid, use something with drops. Mudguards and panniers a good idea though.

Road/racing bike with pannier mounts (which means a carefully chosen entry level road bike, nothing above entry level has them) or a touring bike would be best.

Trying a few days a week to start definately advisable.

blorg

BUACHAILL wrote: »

ok here is where i become a bit ANAL in my plans.
i wont need a carrier bag as my stuff for work will be at my parents place.a 10 minute drive from work. i get a company car so i will also leave that there. i can drive to my folks after work. get the bike and on my way. in morning cycle up and get showered and ready for work and drive in. mud flaps are an option but really not essential

That sounds like a good plan, I commute on my road bike carrying nothing much of the time myself, often take the long way in or back, over the mountains. Key issue though is I have the choice, makes a difference. I generally cycle in on my tourer or winter commuter on Monday with all my clothes for the week.

BUACHAILL

yeah i hear you , always nice to have options available. i know 5 times a week is a lot and i will obviously start by pacing myself and doing it twice a week to get me going but that said do people generally feel 5 times a week is too much on the body or is it just a matter of building it slowly ??

blorg

It's 350km a week which is a lot but certainly possible, especially if it is relatively flat. I would be doing around that ballpark myself at the moment. Build it up slowly though if you are new to it, you might only make it to 5 days a week by the end of the summer.

kincsem

On AA Roadwatch it is almost 35km. I doubt you would do that in 1h20m consistently, more like 1h30m for a 23.3k/h average. I'm guessing you will cheat, and use the main road from Loughlinstown to Kilmacanogue (not go through Shankill village to Bray and up the Dodder valley to rejoin the main road which is longer and slower).
Can you continue in poor conditions? I hit rain one night a few years ago going out to Newtownmountkennedy. There are no main road lights past Kilmacanogue, so you are guessing where the road lies. You need plenty of reflective gear, and I highly recommend ankle reflector bands about 1" thick (the up and down movement is noticed by cars).
It will be enjoyable while the light lasts up to about the end of August.

Gavin

kincsem wrote: »

There are no main road lights past Kilmacanogue, so you are guessing where the road lies. You need plenty of reflective gear, and I highly recommend ankle reflector bands about 1" thick (the up and down movement is noticed by cars).
It will be enjoyable while the light lasts up to about the end of August.

That's when his Fenix L2D will kick in.
You ever get one actually Blorg ?

Gav

kincsem

Buy a track pump and pump the tyres up to 100 to 110 psi. When I did that my time immediately dropped on my regular training spin from an average 1h55m to 1h40m. Its an obvious thing, so obvious many cyclists take it for granted that newbies will know it.

rp

Go for it. I do the 60km round trip Maynooth->Docklands five days a week and I'm no spring chicken (PB 52mins, but averages out at 1hr, depending on wind direction & if I hit the "green wave" on the north quays).

There is no faster way to get in & out of town these days, not reliably (if you have a hard deadline, like the childminder closing), so don't consider options, and none of that lying in the warm bed on a cold & wet morning thinking "I'll just take the car today, just this once": five minutes into the ride you'll be glad you didn't. Just do it.

As for bikes, my advice is to get something light and simple, less extra weight to drag in and out, and less to go wrong. I commute on a fixie (49/14), mudguards, ortleib pannier, mungo bars and hub dynamo+LED lights in the winter.

blorg

Verb wrote: »

That's when his Fenix L2D will kick in.
You ever get one actually Blorg ?

Gav

It's still summer so hasn't been a priority ;-) I have done winter 50kms after work from Dublin out to visit my parents which have involved pitch dark on the N3 and this is where the Fenix would come in handy (as well as if I actually do a 400km Audax which after Wicklow is looking possible.)

BUACHAILL

thanks guys for all your input
i plan on hitting the road on saturday and seeing exactly how long it takes me. its a harder trip dublin to Wicklow so i will tackle it that way first and see my times. I bought a Kellys Arc 1.9 today. really nice bike and quite reasonable i think at €750 ? any opinions?

cunnins4

Dunno about the bike, but good luck with the commute! Mine's only 7.5k each way and sometimes I just don't wanna look at the bike! (although I've been using the road bike a lot more lately for commuting and it makes a hell of a difference-so I second all of the calls for a road bike!)

Ease yourself into it and enjoy!

BUACHAILL

its a low budget bike with good quality shimano hardware so it will do for the minute. If i get into it a bit more which i have the feeling is gonna happen with the mileage i will be putting up i can then justify spending a few pound more !!

has anybody any feedback on the Kellys ?